Panasonic

Longest Lasting AA Battery

The Results

Advertising Value Equivalent:

Over 5.8 million usd

This challenge, which was undertaken with a vehicle developed by high school students, was a much bigger challenge than EVOLTA’s previous record attempts. But the EVOLTA dry cell batteries continued to supply power to the students until the very end.

Yousuke Asayama, Creative Director at Panasonic

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The Brief

Following their successful attempt at creating the Longest plastic toy train track in 2013, Panasonic was searching for another creative Guinness World Records attempt to promote the long lasting power of their battery EVOLTA, and reinforce the brand’s positive image by supporting a challenge that had social meaning.

This was the third time that the EVOLTA team had integrated record-breaking into their campaign, their first record having been set in 2008 when they achieved the Longest lasting AA battery and launched Panasonic's Evolta Challenge campaign.

The Solution

When Panasonic made the toy train that ran on the Longest plastic toy train track with a single AA battery in 2013, they enlisted the help of an elementary school in the project. This time they asked a “train team” from a Technical High school near Tokyo to build a real train that would be entirely powered by batteries.

The 13 students spent 6 months creating the vehicle and built a 1.1 ton train solely powered by 600 size D EVOLTA batteries. Yuri Kogen Railway in Akita offered to support Panasonic to meet the 20 km minimum requirement set by Guinness World Records.

During the incredible 2 hr 36 min journey, the train made three stops so that the students on board could get on and off and drivers could swap round. A huge crowd of supporters were waiting at the finish to witness the once in a life time attempt, and an Official Guinness World RecordsTM adjudicator was on hand to confirm the new record achievement of 22.615 km.

This challenge was subsequently made into a TV advertisement, as a short story to motivate and to spread EVOLTA’s brand values to consumers.

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We strived hard and always aimed to produce the world’s best battery. Because of this effort, EVOLTA has continuously been the world’s No.1 for seven years since being first certified by Guinness World Records. I want to express my pleasure in Panasonic achieving our Guinness World Records titles, and my deepest gratitude to all the members of our team who were involved in the making of EVOLTA.